I can’t believe it but my team, Wild Fires, wrapped up month 4 in Lesotho, Africa.
For those who have not read my previous blog post(s), we have been living and serving at an orphanage that exists to be an advocate and protect the rights of vulnerable, orphaned and HIV affected children, called Tholoana ea Lerato, which means Seed of Love.
Currently, there are 28 beautiful children between the ages of 2-18 years old.
As part of our ministry this month, we helped bath the four youngest children and wash dishes after every meal, but our primary ministry for this month was simply to love these kids.
Meeting the Kids
Because we arrived on a late Wednesday night after 96 hours of travel from Panama to Lesotho, our hosts graciously gave us the following day to rest.
The first week we arrived the kids were still on summer break, so early in the day, we had a few kids peaking in our windows wanting us to come out and play. However, we knew it was important for us to stay inside to recharge before we jumped in. Well, I started to get anxious wanting to meet the kids, so one of my teammates and I decided to go outside late afternoon.
My teammate, Becks, broke the ice by breaking out into handstands. The kids and I followed suit. It took a little while for the initial awkwardness of meeting 20 new kids from a new country to disappear, but after playing several games that they eagerly taught us, we walked in our home smiling ear to ear excited about getting to know and spending more time with them.
Getting to Know the Kids
Over the next few days, we started learning some of the kids’ names. This may or may not sound easy to you (memorizing 28 children’s names) but when you factor in learning Sesotho names that look like this, Tlotlisang or this Lisebo but are pronounced Dee-say-boh it becomes very challenging. Therefore, without their knowing, we gave them nicknames like “Potato” and the “baby, baby”.
Early on each of us made strong connections with a few of the kids. I, through my love for soccer, made friends with some of the older boys who also enjoy playing. Then during our first official week of ministry when my teammate Melissa and I went over to the children’s house at 6am to help bathe the four youngest children and prep for breakfast and wash dishes, I bonded with the toddlers.
They’re Our Kids
Quickly, through selfie ministry, chalk ministry, dance ministry, hair ministry, and spinning, flipping, wrestling, and tickling the kids, they became our kids. After hours of playing with them, we would then sit around the dinner table as a team talking about our kids (like parents do) everything from the funny moments to the sad moments. Once school started, we walked them to school. We would drop them off, pointing out our kids in the schoolyard and wave goodbye. When we spotted one of them, we would get excited, “Hey, that’s one of our kids!” By the end, I noticed how possessive and proud we became of our kids.
Leaving Our Kids
For me, this was the saddest day of the World Race. I knew well in advance that it would be a heartbreaking day leaving them, but I didn’t realize it was something I would have to grieve. I befriended and cared about these kids, and now not only will I never see them again, but just contacting them is hardly an option. On top of this, I didn’t get the goodbyes I had hoped for. I thought there would be some sort of closure that would make it easier to move on and there was none. On the one hand, it’s difficult and almost too soon to look at pictures and videos because it’s painful, but on the other hand, I miss them and crave seeing their faces and hearing their voices and laughter. What brought a little comfort was knowing another World Race team was arriving later the day we left, but I now see it’s still going to take some time to heal. As I held back tears, I remembered something I’ve heard and has stuck with me, “What God gives you compassion for, it’s likely a hint or clue of your calling,” and I couldn’t help but wonder if this type of ministry is my next journey after the Race.
Video of Our Kids
For a better understanding of our team interacting with our kids, how much we loved them and enjoyed hanging out with them, please watch and enjoy this video showing some of our precious, special memories with them!
